Chapter Twenty Eight- Journey to Cybertron

"Megatron?!" Grimlock exclaimed as he aimed his cannons at him.

"Please, I mean no harm." Megatronus reassured.

"No?! Then, what are you doing there?" Grimlock demanded.

"Research, for lord Optimus." Megatronus answered.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Grimlock said in confusion.

"I do not understand." Megatronus answered, so Grimlock lowered his weapons. "And why did you call me Megatron?"

"Uh, why wouldn't I?" Grimlock asked with caution.

"Because my name is Megatronus. I put it myself in honor of the warrior of darkness, one of the thirteen original Primes." Megatronus said as Grimlock looked to his Autobot emblem.

"You reminded me of someone I once knew, that's all." Grimlock lied.

"You are Grimlock?" Megatronus asked.

"Yes." Grimlock answered while raising an eyebrow.

"Lord Optimus told me you have been terminated." Megatronus recalled.

"Lord Optimus says many things, only some which are true." Grimlock said.

"You do not suggest that our leader would speak falsehoods?" Megatronus asked.

That made Grimlock laugh. "You truly are being kept in the dark, aren't you?"

"You speak in many riddles, Grimlock. Please, tell me what it is that you know." Megatronus demanded.

"And in return." Grimlock began.

Then the doors opened revealing three Autobot heavy troopers and engineers aiming their weapons at Grimlock.

"Grimlock, surrender!" One of them ordered.

Grimlock pulled out his shield to protect himself next to Megatronus.

"Hold your fire!" Megatronus instructed.

Immediately Grimlock transformed into his T-Rex form and passed through the troopers.

"Remain in the lab." One of the engineers instructed.

"But I…" Megatronus began.

"Lord Optimus orders." One of the snipers cut off before pressing the button to close the door before he transformed and chased Grimlock, leaving Megatronus confused.

The alarm was sounded and a lot of Autobots (including the Wreckers, Arcee, Cliffjumper and Smokescreen) ran to intercept Grimlock, but when the dinosaur's roar was heard, they began to run away from him with some of them screaming.

"Run for your lives!" Smokescreen shouted as he run with the others.

Grimlock began to breathe fire at the closer Autobots, even one of them tripped over and Grimlock smashed him with his foot. The trooper was carried with the foot a few steps until he was only a few pieces of scrap. The sniper which followed him landed on top of Grimlock and started shooting, but he managed to get him with his mouth and tear him apart before he launched a big shot from a hidden cannon from his back to destroy the door of the hangar. Grimlock managed to get out of the ship and jumped to the floor, but he received one shot from the ship's weapons which made him scream in pain as he was falling. Meanwhile, inside the base, an experiment was underway.

"Rafael, is the test subject ready?" Shockwave asked.

Raf put a toy car while he held the controller.

"Check. Long range GPS activated." Raf informed.

"I have doubts that our recalibrations have successfully extended ground bridge range." Shockwave said.

"But there is only one way to find out." Knock Out said activating the ground bridge.

Raf moved the car towards the ground bridge.

"Come on." Knock Out said to himself.

The car seemed to be doing fine, but then it began to spark as it blew up before it even made it through the portal, making both Decepticons sighed in disappointment.

"It was just the first try." Raf reassured, trying to cheer them up.

That made Knock Out smile a little, but not Shockwave.

"No Rafael, it was pure folly. The misguided act of desperation. It takes eons to master space bridge engineering, and no one is more accomplished than the Autobots." Shockwave said in defeat.

"You know, there's this thing in gym class where you have to climb a rope all the way to the ceiling. It's really hard, and I've never been able to do it. But when I told Sting about it, he believed in me, which made me practice a ton. Finally, just a couple of weeks ago, I made it, to the top." Raf told.

"What does any of this have to do with gym class?!" Shockwave demanded.

"I was just…I'll give you some alone time." Raf said before he left.

"He was just trying to help us, by showing that even in the hardest situations there is hope to pass all obstacles and reach our goals!" Knock Out said annoyed before he left Shockwave alone.

"Megatron, I'm so sorry." Shockwave said sadly.

Inside the Ark, Optimus went to Megatronus's work station.

"Megatronus, I am so sorry for the recent commotion. You weren't in any way harmed, were you?" Optimus asked.

"No, lord Optimus. But why did you tell me Grimlock was dead?" Megatronus asked.

"Because he's dead to our cause. Grimlock was my most trusted general, until he turned wild and joined the Decepticons. Never have I witnessed a more profound act of deceit. He did not do or say anything troubling to you?" Optimus said.

"No." Megatronus simply answered.

"Good, perhaps is best to forget the entire incident and return to our project." Optimus suggested as he walked towards the door.

"As you wish, my lord." Megatronus said before the doors closed.

Optimus growled his teeth as he meet with Bumblebee at the next corridor.

"I knew it was only matter of time that Grimlock tried to return and take advantage." Bee said.

"Megatronus was never very adapted in the art of deception. I made a mistake not terminating Grimlock when I had the opportunity. A mistake I do not intend to make again!" Optimus said as he walked with Bumblebee.

At the same time, Starscream and Soundwave retuned to base through the ground bridge and returned to their robot form.

"No sign of energon spikes." Soundwave reported.

"The others find the space bridge?" Starscream asked.

"They haven't yet reported back." Shockwave answered.

"Shockwave, you alright?" Starscream asked with concern.

"Hm, yes. Yes, let's just get you to the next quadrant." Shockwave answered after he snapped out of his thoughts.

Then the computers began blinking.

"What is it?" Starscream asked.

"A high frequency signal, with an imbedded message. For Knock Out!" Soundwave answered.

"Megatron?" Starscream asked with hope.

"Grimlock." Soundwave corrected.

"I have obtained information regarding your leader, bring medical kid, come alone." Shockwave read. "It could be a trap coming from him."

"Soundwave, main the ground bridge. Shockwave, you and I will accompany Knock Out for precaution." Starscream instructed.

Inside a forest, Grimlock laid against a boulder with a lot of energon coming from his wound. Then he saw a ground bridge portal appear with Knock Out, Starscream and Shockwave coming through it.

"I told you to come alone!" Grimlock exclaimed.

"And since when do we listen to you?" Knock Out demanded while Starscream and Shockwave prepared their weapons.

"Where is Megatron?" Starscream asked.

"Patch me up and perhaps I'll tell you." Grimlock answered.

But no one of the Decepticons did anything, making him groan.

"Have sympathy, I'm leaking here." Grimlock pleaded.

"Then I suggest that you speak quickly. Has Megatron been harmed in anyway?" Shockwave asked.

"He's fine, fine! Can't you see I'm the one who's been harmed?" Grimlock said.

"Where is he?" Knock Out yelled.

"Where do you think? He's on Optimus's warship!" Grimlock retorted.

"Which is located where?" Starscream asked.

"Now, who knows, it's a ship! It moves, it took me months to track, only to get fired upon." Grimlock ranted.

"You wouldn't go to the trouble of calling me here unless you had information to trade. Real information." Knock Out reminded.

"Very well. Your beloved leader may have lost his senses. He goes by the name Megatronus now, and it seems that Optimus has led him believe he's an Autobot." Grimlock explained.

"Tell us something we don't know." Knock Out remarked.

"What? How could you possibly know that?" Grimlock exclaimed.

"We're wasting our time." Shockwave said as the three were going to go through the ground bridge.

"Wait, that's all I have! Really! You can't just leave me like this!" Grimlock pleaded.

"Unless you know where Optimus's hiding his space bridge, you can stay here and rust." Starscream proclaimed.

"Space Bridge?" Grimlock questioned before widened his optics. "Do you mean to tell me that they actually finished building it without my supervision?!"

Starscream and Shockwave looked each other before looking at Grimlock again, who smirked.

"It hurts most right here, doctor." He said.

Back in base, Soundwave showed everyone the location of the space bridge.

"The Autobot space bridge is located right here. Deep inside an energon mine." Soundwave said.

"Adjacent to a raw fuel supply, clever." Knock Out observed.

"What's our intel?" Airachnid asked.

"A…reliable source." Starscream hesitate to reply, so Airachnid looked him with a suspicious look. "So, do we have a consensus?"

"Do we know if people can even breathe your atmosphere?" June demanded.

"I'll hook Jack up." Silas answered, so June looked at him with worry. "Completely state of the art. I still have connections on NASA."

"It's too dangerous." June retorted.

"Mom, I know that this is hard, but Megatron risked his life to save our planet, and he's not even human. We owe it to him." Jack explained.

"Jack may be the only one who can do this, June. But I don't want you to think for one moment that I'll allow him to travel unchaperoned." Airachnid said.

"Not everyone is destined for an ordinary life. Lord Megatron was once Megatronus after all." Shockwave told June.

June looked over at Jack and smiled. "When you were little, you always wanted to be an astronaut." She said, making him smile.

At the same time, inside the Ark, Megatronus was doing his own research.

"Okay, Megatron." Megatronus said as he typed some buttons on the keyboard and an image of Megatron came up. "Megatron: leader of the Decepticon invaders. I reminded Grimlock of him. And Optimus said Lord Starscream was the Decepticon leader. Someone is not telling the truth."

Meanwhile, inside the Decepticon base, the team was getting ready for their most complicated mission so far.

"We will ground bridge directly into the energon mine, and make our way to the space bridge chamber, neutralizing any Autobot enforcements we encounter. Once we secure the space bridge, we'll send for Jack. Stealth must be an absolute priority. We will most certainly outnumbered, and if any Autobot should transmit an alert to the warship." Starscream explained.

"The odds become 400 to 1." Breakdown finished.

"Scrambling communications upon entry will certainly provide an edge in this regard." Soundwave added.

"Taking the bridge is the easy part. You six need to hold it long enough for Jack, and me to get to Cybertron and back." Airachnid proclaimed.

"Rafael climbed to the top of the rope in gym class. We can do this." Shockwave declared, making Raf smile.

"What does gym class have to do with anything? And if Shockwave get to go on a commando raid…I'm going too!" Miko declared.

"Miko, you will help Rafael operate our ground bridge and manage the communication ops." Starscream instructed.

Miko growled before she crossed her arms and stormed away. "Can't go to Cybertron, can't stormed the Autobot space bridge."

"And nurse Darby would stand by in case of emergency." Starscream instructed.

"Son, it's time to suit up." Silas proclaimed.

The ground bridge opened inside the mine and all the Decepticons came out with their weapons ready.

"Clear." Breakdown said.

"Clear." Airachnid said too.

They all ran down the cave as they made their way to the space bridge. Two Autobot engineers were keeping guard next to a drill. Airachnid jumped onto the top of the drill before she landed in front of the Autobots. She eliminated one of them, and before the other fired, Stinger smashed him inti the drill. Another Autobot tank tried to fire at them, but Knock Out immobilized him with his electric staff and Breakdown hit his head with his hammer. Another trooper saw this.

"Command, this is space bridge control, we are under attack!" The Autobot reported, but he only received static. "Command, do you read?" He said before Shockwave smashed him with his cannon.

"Sh." Starscream said walking along with Soundwave, who was blocking the signal with his antenna.

Everyone arrived to an elevator, which toke them down to the lower floor. Right there was an Autobot guardian guarding the lift.

"Going down." Breakdown said as he transformed both hands into hammers and smashed the guardian's head.

They continued advancing until they arrived to a big chamber and hid behind boulders.

"By the Allspark." Starscream breathed.

In front of them, there was the space bridge, guarded by a lot of Autobot troopers, Aerobots, snipers, heavy soldiers and engineers.

"Thank you, Grimlock." Knock Out said, making Breakdown to look at him in shock. "Who else would it be?"

Two Autobots heard a sound and they saw a drill thrown out at them. They tried to destroy it by shooting, but it smashed them first. After that, all the team came shooting at the Autobots, who responded by the same way. Fortunately, they managed to neutralize all of them very fast. After that, Shockwave walked to the space bridge control panel.

"A masterpiece of engineering." Shockwave said.

"Operational?" Starscream asked.

"Fully." Shockwave answered after touching the panel.

"Perimeter secured." Breakdown informed.

"It wasn't so hard at the end." Knock Out said.

"Now the scary part." Airachnid said.

"Shutting down the scrambler in order to contact base and maintain communication for the remainder of the mission." Soundwave declared.

Inside base, everyone was waiting.

"Strike team to base. Objective secure." Starscream informed through the com-link.

"That's your cue." Silas said to Jack, who nodded his head.

Jack was now wearing an astronaut gear. After he climbed down the stairs, he put on his helmet before looking back at his friends.

"Bring me back a souvenir." Raf said.

"So what happens when you have to go to the bathroom?" Miko asked.

"Safe journey, son." Silas said.

"Just go already. Megatron needs you." June begged.

Jack took a couple of steps back before saluting them. Silas saluted him while his friends waved goodbye and his mom kissed him before he walked through the ground bridge. Jack arrived to the space bridge where all the Decepticons were waiting for him.

"Locking onto Cybertron." Soundwave informed.

"You ready?" Airachnid asked.

Jack pulled out the key to Vector Sigma. "Let's do this."

"I'll leave the space bridge portal open in order to eliminate any communication lag over the great distance and make it easier for you to locate when you're ready to return." Soundwave informed.

"Easier to locate? You're not bridging us straight to the big V?" Jack asked.

"Vector Sigma's true location is shrouded in myth and rumor, Jack. It is said the path of the Primes leads there." Shockwave explained.

"We must be confident that Megatron will guide you." Starscream said.

"Don't worry; space bridging is just like ground bridging." Airachnid reassured.

Soundwave pressed a button and opened the space bridge. The force of it actually pulling them in slightly.

"Just a little more intense." Knock Out said over the sound.

Jack and Airachnid walked to the portal, which opened in the middle of the ruins of an ancient city of Cybertron. Jack looked around in awe as he saw Cybertron for the first time as he continued walking with Airachnid.

"I…I can't believe it. I'm actually on another planet! Airachnid, this is incredible!" Jack said, but he earned no response from her partner. "Airachnid?"

She had a sad expression on her face. "This isn't how I wanted you to see my home." She said sadly.

"I'm sorry." Jack apologized.

"In the fog of war it's hard to see beyond the next leg of the mission, or the next punch in the fight. We did everything to save Cybertron, but when the fog finally lifted, there wasn't much to save." Airachnid mourned.

"Airachnid, Jack, do you copy?" Starscream asked through the com-link.

"Roger, we're on Cybertron." Jack confirmed which was heard inside base.

"Whoo-hoo!" Miko shouted as she gave Raf a high-five.

"Yes!" Silas smiled.

"Oh, thank goodness." June sighed with relief.

In the space bridge, the Decepticons were glad too that they made it.

"Just kept the sightseeing to a minimum, huh?" Knock Out reminded.

"Indeed, we don't know if your journey ahead is 5 clicks or 5000." Starscream agreed through the com-link.

"Understood, we're out." Airachnid told them before she ended the conversation.

"Okay, Starscream said the card would guide us. But I don't see how or what I'm supposed to…" Jack said until the key card began to glow.

So Jack began to move the key to where it was glowing the strongest. He stopped as the key glowed as it was pointing in a direction of an archway.

"There you go." Airachnid simply said before she transformed into her alt mode. Jack climbed inside her before Airachnid began to follow the direction of the key card.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team waited in the space bridge.

"This could be a while." Knock Out remarked.

"Space bridge control, do you read me? Space bridge control, this is Bulkhead. Your status report is overdue." Bulkhead said through the com-link.

"Scrap!" Breakdown cursed before he was going to answer.

"Breakdown, no! He'll recognize your voice!" Knock Out warned.

"Well I can make it lower, higher." Breakdown suggested.

"He would recognize mine, as well." Knock Out said.

"We have voices features, so he'll recognize us too." Shockwave said referring to Soundwave, Starscream and himself.

They all looked at Stinger who shook his head.

"Come in, space bridge control! Don't make me come down there and dent some engine blocks!" Bulkhead threatened.

"Somebody said something, now!" Silas said through the com-link.

"Rafael, patch in agent Silas." Starscream instructed.

With that suggestion, Silas became nervous.

"You have one nano-second to respond before…" Bulkhead began.

"This is space bridge control, situation normal." Silas said through the com-link.

"Normal, you sure about that?" Bulkhead asked.

"We were just…calibrating the sub-systems and we, huh, had a surge, but its fine now. How are you?" Silas said, making everyone drop their mouths.

"Uh, never better. I know it's thankless down there. Keep up the good work." Bulkhead answered, causing everyone to sigh with relief.

"Will do, control out." Silas said before ending the com-link and sighed in relief.

Inside the Ark, Megatronus continued to research by himself, trying to find more clues about Megatron.

"Why would the Autobot archives be so heavily encrypted?" Megatronus asked aloud. "Fortunately Optimus showed me some tricks in the old days."

Megatronus typed onto the console revealing the picture of Megatron. He typed another command, causing the picture to change and reform, as he paid all the attention. But when the picture was almost done, he widened his optics in shock.

"How could I possibly be, Lord Megatron? Wait, there is something more." Megatronus said as he observed something in his own file, one that made him be more in shock.

Unfortunately, Blaster showed the picture to Optimus Prime.

"Even our encryptions couldn't keep him from the truth. Megatronus has much to accomplish, and he will stay the costs. Even if I must inflict great pain to ensure the completion of Project Iacon." Optimus said sinisterly.

Meanwhile on Cybertron, Jack and Airachnid's search continued.

"That way." Jack told her as she flew in the direction she was told.

"Toward Kaon?" She questioned in surprise.

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"For all the places of Cybertron, Kaon was the safest place for Decepticons, since it was our capital." She explained.

"Good." Jack remarked.

Airachnid landed just in front of the bridge which leads to Kaon.

"We're on foot from here." She said.

Jack got off of Airachnid before she transformed into her robot form.

"Don't want engine noise to attract the wrong kind of attention." She said activating her spider legs.

"Bots?" Jack asked.

"Vermin." Airachnid sneered.

Jack pulled out the key card and pointed it towards Kaon. "This way."

The two made their way to inside the capital. But they didn't notice that Cybertron wasn't as dead as they believed, because right beneath Kaon, something noticed them and began to follow them. Something big, purple and fierce.

To be continued…